The Case for Good Cranial Rhythm

Today’s blog is all about good cranial rhythm and how things are supposed to flow inside your skull. So as you can well imagine, your skull is just packed full of all sorts of things like the brain, obviously, but there are also many veins, arteries, nerves, and even lymphatic drains. Every day of the week I meet new patients who have severely distorted cranial bones- and many times I do not even need an x-ray to confirm this, I can tell just by looking at them. When the ears and eyes are not level, this is a giveaway that internally the cranial bones are quite distorted. Well, dear reader, just imagine a car that has been in an accident – because the frame of the car is now bent, the brake lines are crimped and electrical wires are now bent so they do not function very well. The same thing is happening inside your head- if the cranial bones are bent, fluids cannot flow very well. Simple as that, ‘nuff said,’ right?

Not exactly done yet, are we? Now that we can see the cranial bones and how they are not level, we need to delve more into the real problem. From my own observations, most of the time the bones inside the skull are bent or crooked because of trauma from birth. Let’s face it, birth is a rough process – whether or not you are delivered normally or by C section. Here you are, this little tiny body inside the womb of your mother, all crunched up and upside down, and then you travel through the tight opening of the birth canal or get ripped out via C section. This makes that tiny body go all crooked and bent, and much of this damage stays with us all our lives. And then one day, as you get a little older, you notice the jaws popping and clicking and wonder what that is all about.

Let’s fast forward a few years. The joints have been popping/clicking and once in a blue moon the jaw just locks up tight and won’t open or it won’t close or a searing sensation of pain shoots through the entire left side of your jaw. You tell the dentist and he or she makes an upper nightguard to help with the problem. Unfortunately, the nightguard is one of those rubbery things that just make you grind your teeth even more, but fortunately there is less pressure on the jaw joints so you tolerate it.

The real problem with such a device is that it really slows down cranial motion. What this means is that inside your skull the cerebrospinal fluid needs to pump and flow all over the brain and spinal cord. When you wear the upper device, this locks up the cranial bones and things do not flow as well. This also applies to the lymphatic system. You have all heard of lymph nodes and how they drain the crud out of your head. Well, now imagine that the cranial bones are locked up tight from the upper device and things are no longer flowing well. According to University of Virginia hospital center, the lack of lymphatic drainage in the brain can lead to ADD, OCD, and autoimmune disorders. So why in the world would anyone wear an upper nightguard? Sure, it might stop damage to the teeth but I think I would be more concerned about damage to my brain and the rest of my body!

As many of my very dear readers already know, you simply should not lock up the cranial bones because the body will most likely pay a price for this later on. It’s kind of like saying your car’s engine needs lubrication or else the various parts will seize up. It’s the same with your bones inside your skull- they need to keep moving in order to stay healthy. It is a simple concept, but not well understood. So keep those bones moving and keep up your health!